Maggie Smith remembered by David Hare

28 December 1934 – 27 September 2024The playwright recalls the actor as a fiercely loyal friend with a natural gift for comedy, but also as her own hardest critic“Melancholy men, of all others, are the most witty,” said Aristotle, in an observation that will resonate with anyone who spent time with Maggie Smith.At the turn of the century, I wrote a play, The Breath of Life, in which Maggie appeared opposite Judi Dench. One night at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, Hillary Clinton came with Madeleine Albright. They were both seated on time, but Bill Clinton and Chelsea, delayed by traffic, joined them in the middle of first act. Next day, I was eager to find out what the Clintons had been like

Quincy Jones remembered by Mark Ronson

14 March 1933 – 3 November 2024The musician salutes his friend, the virtuoso producer and composer and ‘a benevolent cheerleader for the wonder of music’Of all the lessons I learned from Quincy, one that always stays with me is something I read in his memoir, Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones, a beautiful, unparalleled story of music, civil rights, family and generosity. He was in his mid-20s, already a celebrated musician and arranger for Ray Charles and Dinah Washington, and he walked away from it all, packed up and moved to Paris to study music theory and composition under Nadia Boulanger, the famous composer and mentor. Imagine reaching the pinnacle of success, especially as a young Black musician in segregated 1950s America, and saying thanks, but I’m starting over for the sake of chords and harmony. I fantasise about having that kind of courage. The guts to drop everything, leave the rat race and bury myself in theory and orchestration, and return a musical Jedi master, instead of freezing like a deer in headlights at Abbey Road while conductors toss around terms that may as well be in Klingon

Looking back on landmarks of US Black history from an era of erasure – in pictures

Amid an aggressive campaign to roll back diversity and inclusion programs, which could bring a more forceful implementation of the banning of African American history in some public schools, a new book seeks to do the opposite.Picturing Black History.Picturing Black History: Photographs and Stories That Changed the World, released last month, offers American students an alternative way of learning about Black history through images. “Photography allows us to see a representation of what people might already discuss in a classroom, in terms of repression and violence, but also in terms of other elements of Black joy and imagination,” said Damarius Johnson, a co-author of the book and the former managing editor of the Picturing Black History initiative. Along with his co-authors, Nicholas B Breyfogle, Steven Conn and Daniela Edmeier, Johnson sees the book as “really valuable in showing that African Americans have been part of that history since the beginning”

Preston’s golden age: mysterious guerrilla art tackles everything from toilets to Shakespeare

I missed the first one.I only caught on after seeing posts about a mysterious golden toilet among the Northcote Plaza Appreciation Society Facebook page’s usual chat about the “good Coles”, the “shit Coles” and Frank the pigeon’s latest exploits.Then a golden fan appeared and my fascination with Northcote’s golden objects began.They first popped up in the middle of St Georges Road in Melbourne’s north at the end of 2022, sitting on a black air valve cover that used to be part of a water main drain.There have now been 15 variations to ponder as you head into the city in the morning peak hour traffic – an ever-changing display of toilets, fans and plungers, always painted gold and combined with written commentary

And the 2024 Braddies go to … Peter Bradshaw’s film picks of the year

Now the Guardian’s Top 50 countdowns, as voted for by the whole film team, have announced their No 1s, here are our chief critic’s personal choices, in no particular order The 50 best films of 2024 in the UK The 50 best movies of 2024 in the US More on the best culture of 2024The time has come once more for me to present my “Braddies”, a strictly personal awards list for films getting a UK release in the calendar year just gone – quite distinct from the Guardian’s collegiate best-of-year critics’ poll.It’s been 12 months in which the big-worry issue refuses to go away, two little letters that until recently, didn’t mean anything much at all and now reduce us to a quiver of anxiety: AI. The conclusion of the writers’ strike was supposed to have provided for the primacy of creative humanity, and for keeping AI in its place as a tool. But studios are keen to find efficient and profitable ways to exploit their intellectual property and Lionsgate has actually signed a deal with artificial intelligence firm Runway to engage with their back catalogue. An uneasy thought

‘Still so relatable’: how teenage discovery of the Brontës fostered career in literature

Lucy Powrie was 15 years old when she first read Anne Brontë’s 1847 novel Agnes Grey and instantly, intensely, fell in love. “There was just this moment of, I suppose, feeling like I’d come home. I’d found something that was just better than anything I had ever found in my life.”Already a wildly enthusiastic reader, she had been blogging about books since the age of 12, and hosting a book review channel on YouTube since she was 13. Discovering Anne Brontë, followed immediately by her older sisters Emily and Charlotte, opened the door to a new world: “They were everything that I didn’t realise was out there